"Imagine that the interpretation of the Constitution was frozen in 1937. Imagine a country in which Social Security, job safety laws and environmental protections were unconstitutional. Imagine judges longing for that. Imagine one of them as the next Supreme Court nominee." So begins "The Unregulated Offensive", published in the April 17, 2005 edition of the New York Times Magazine by Jeffrey Rosen, Professor of Law at George Washington University School of Law. In the article, Professor Rosen traces the rise of the "Constitution in Exile" movement, which seeks to return constitutional law to what it believes was a pre-New Deal Golden Age of limited government. Participants in this program will discuss and debate the ideas underlying the "Constitution in Exile" and their relevance to the current controversies over judicial nominations.

Americans surrender vast amounts of personal information through everyday commercial interactions – from filling a prescription to buying groceries to signing up for a credit card. Private companies that started as direct marketers or credit verifiers are now also homeland security contractors trying to help the government connect dots in the war against terror. Information held in the private sector, merged with government data, may enable law enforcement to stop a future terrorist attack, but it also gives government an unprecedented ability to monitor the lives of American citizens, immigrants and visitors. In his new book, No Place to Hide, Robert O’Harrow Jr. describes the information society we now live in and how it challenges traditional notions of civil liberties, autonomy, and privacy, even as we gain a powerful new security capability. Mr. O’Harrow will join an expert panel at the Center for American Progress – featuring Gen. Wesley Clark, DHS Chief Privacy Officer Nuala O’Connor Kelly and privacy expert Jim Dempsey – to discuss the intersection of the data revolution, homeland security, information warfare and personal privacy.

A Brentwood housewife and her DA husband. A Persian store owner. Two police detectives who are also lovers. An African-American television director and his wife. A Mexican locksmith. Two car-jackers. A rookie cop. A middle-aged Korean couple... They all live in Los Angeles. And during the next 36 hours, they will all collide...

A Policy Address by Governor Mark Warner (D-VA), who was inaugurated as Governor of Virginia in January 2002 and has taken a business-like approach to reforming government services and spending, navigating Virginia through $6 billion in revenue shortfalls, and streamlining state government while continuing to invest in education. From day one, Governor Warner has led the most diverse administration in history. He brings a focus on results, accountability, and "straight talk."

Americans have long faced the threat of a natural disease outbreak like SARS or Avian Flu landing on our own shores. Now that threat is magnified by the specter of bioterrorism and citizens face the risk of an invisible invader every day. How can these threats be effectively countered by both the public and private sectors? What incentives can the government provide for companies to develop crucial vaccines and treatments to guard against outbreak and attack? Are today's defenses effective? How should patent protections be applied to encourage innovations by drug companies?

Undivided Rights presents a fresh and textured understanding of the reproductive rights movement by placing the experiences, priorities, and activism of women of color in the foreground. Using historical research, original organizational case studies, and personal interviews, the authors illuminate how women of color have led the fight to control their own bodies and reproductive destinies. Undivided Rights articulates a holistic vision for reproductive freedom.

As budget wars flare up in Congress, discussions are focused on specific programs and line items. Lost in the debate, as usual, is the bigger picture. In what direction does the overarching flow of federal funds steer us? And does the budget reflect our priorities? For two years, Foreign Policy in Focus and the Center for Defense Information have been leading a task force of military and non-military security experts to craft a strategy for a unified national security budget that integrates the offensive, defensive, and preventive elements of our national defense and assesses tradeoffs among all three components. The budgets of the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, State, Treasury and Energy can no longer be viewed separately when the concerns that motivate them are shared. To confront the reality of today's national security environment, we must look beyond the usual arguments over military hardware and direct more funds to programs ranging from port inspection to foreign assistance to public diplomacy. As FPIF and CDI release their latest version of the "Unified Security Budget for the United States" amid unprecedented constraints in federal resources, the need to reframe our spending priorities takes on a new urgency.

Eliot Spitzer took office in 1999 and through a series of innovative actions has redefined the role of Attorney General. He investigated conflicts of interest by investment banks, illegal trading practices by mutual funds and bid rigging in the insurance industry. He has recovered billions of dollars for small investors and other consumers in these cases and was the catalyst for industry-wide reforms. He sued Midwest power plants and achieved significant reductions in the emissions that are responsible for acid rain and smog in the Northeast. He exposed the dangerous practice by pharmaceutical companies of concealing information about the clinical trials of drugs, and helped develop new disclosure policies in the industry.

Kim Jong Il’s North Korea is one of the gravest national security challenges facing the United States. Amidst disturbing reports that North Korea may be preparing to test a nuclear weapon, the Center for American Progress brings together Charles Pritchard, President Bush’s former special envoy to North Korea, and Daniel Poneman, one of the prime architects of the 1994 accord that froze North Korea’s nuclear program, to discuss the current situation and the implications if North Korea carries out a test.

The Education of Shelby Knox is a coming of age story about a teenage girl who joins a campaign for comprehensive sex education in the high schools of Lubbock, Texas, an area that boasts some of the nation's highest teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease rates in the country. As Shelby is swept into the fight, she begins to question her deeply conservative Southern Baptist upbringing. When the campaign broadens to include a fight for a gay-straight alliance, Shelby confronts her family and her pastor, in the end declaring herself a feminist and a liberal Christian.

With little public scrutiny, Congress recently enacted the "REAL ID" bill, provisions of which require sweeping changes to the process by which states issues driver's licenses. Promoted as a measure to curb the ability of terrorists to obtain identification documents, REAL ID has spurred a firestorm of controversy from many quarters, including immigrant rights groups, state governments, and privacy advocates who fear the creation of a de facto national ID card. While reducing identity theft remains an imminent threat to consumers as well as a pressing national security concern, serious questions remain whether REAL ID is the right approach. The Center brings together a distinguished panel to debate an issue that will have a dramatic impact on states and localities in the coming months and years.